It is unfortunate that many of you that have fibromyalgia are suffering not only from pain and fatigue but from an enormous amount of misinformation. Research is wonderful and I have always said that with fibromyalgia, “Knowledge is Power”, but it must be the correct type of research and come from reputable sources. It must be accurate, truthful and not filled with hype. Unfortunately, some of the fibro information on the internet is either confusing or totally misleading. Sometimes it can be downright deceitful. There are even sites that promise some miracle cure with a certain type of treatment that will take all your fibro symptoms away. Please trust me when I say that there is no such magic treatment and if there was, I would be performing it on my patients and the waiting list for an appointment at our FibroCareCenter would be years instead of weeks. Other sites may claim that one specific vitamin or herb is going to do it all and be the magic that suddenly helps your fibro vanish. These claims both anger and sadden me because so many people who are desperately seeking relief from their symptoms become duped and fall prey. The worst thing about these types of untruthful claims is not just with the loss of some money the people spend on them but more in the hopes that are shattered and the high expectations that never happen. I often see these disillusioned fibro patients on the rebound in my office after they have tried many “magic bullet” type cures. They are discouraged, depressed and unfortunately doubtful that anything will ever work. Some are at their wits end and are about to just give up any hope at all for finding a way to manage their fibro.
I need to stress the point that fibromyalgia can be helped. When people with fibromyalgia understand exactly what they need to do, they can improve greatly. When they understand the truth about fibro and not the hype, much healing can be achieved. As many of our readers are aware, I myself developed fibromyalgia 15 years ago, so I understand this condition on both a personal level as well as a health care provider. Most of my own fibromyalgia symptoms are now gone because of specific changes I have made in my life that my years of research taught me to do. The numerous patients I have examined, counseled and treated with fibromyalgia have also given me a tremendous insight and reinforced what helps and what doesn’t. The patients that respond the best are the ones that are positive, determined, motivated and hopeful. They are able to adhere to the recommendations that we, as a team, decide upon and improvement inevitably follows. Those fibro patients that feel fear, confusion and a sense of hopelessness are more difficult to manage but I always accept the challenge and find it a labor of love.
If you are one of the unfortunate fibro sufferers who has tried many different products, cures, remedies to get relief and feel like giving up, please don’t. Please do yourself a favor and consider taking a fresh look at your condition. Realize that the innate power within your own body is more than capable of helping balance out those neurochemicals that are causing most of your fibro symptoms. You just need the right mind set and the right information to get you started on the road to recovery.
You need to believe that, being armed with correct information, you can become your own self advocate and you can heal.
So, what is causing the pain? What is causing all the intestinal discomfort? What is causing the burning stomach and the backing up of acid into the esophagus? With the vast majority of my fibromyalgia patients the answer is usually one of two things. Either they have a motility problem which is caused by an imbalanced autonomic nervous system or they have “leaky gut”. Actually many times they have both problems occurring at once. The imbalance in the autonomic nervous system is because certain neurotransmitters become imbalanced and this we know is part of the overall fibromyalgia syndrome. This is known as IBS and although recognized by all health care providers, in my opinion, is often handled improperly. Most doctors try to use medicines to either slow down the digestive process to control diarrhea or speed it up to help with constipation. They try to buffer the acid with a base or prescribe medicines known as PPIs to reduce the overall production of acid. Often this type of treatment is not only ineffective, it is counterproductive. 
The best way to explain what happens with “leaky gut” is to explain how the intestines work normally. The absorption of most of our vital nutrients happens in our intestines. Normally small little microscopic holes allows vitamins and minerals to get through and be absorbed into our blood stream. In leaky gut, the intestinal lining becomes inflamed and those normally tiny holes become larger allowing macroscopic toxins to pass through. This creates a severe immune response and changes the levels of many mediating chemicals. This often causes a tremendous amount of symptoms that are far reaching and often would seem to be unrelated to the actual intestines themselves. Symptoms as diverse as muscle pain and even rashes can occur because the body is having an immuno response to trying to fight the toxins being absorbed. 
So, what is happening and why so many flares? I have heard some people saying that maybe it is the weather. We did have an unusually hot summer and the humidity has been extremely high. Now, the fall seems to be starting very wet and cool. Many researchers have defined a definite link between climate and body chemistry so that may be one cause. If the neurotransmitters are disrupted due to environmental factors, then it will obviously bring on a flare. Also with the severe heat that we had, especially up in the North East and Mid Atlantic states, many people decided to not be as active as they once were. Hot and humid conditions, kept them inside in air conditioning and lack of exercise exacerbated many of the myofascial trigger points. We then had a brief period of some really nice mild weather and it is possible that this brought on a sort of backlash because people sometimes make up for lost time. I have patients that were relatively inactive over the summer that then suddenly got outside and started doing all sorts of heavy yard work when the heat finally broke. They were exerting muscles that definitely aren’t ready for that type of workload. It’s a strange but typical type of backlash. Now the weather has been cool and damp. The change in barometric pressure makes us feel stiff. Both trigger points and tender points act up as the cold constricts blood vessels and tightens muscles. So the weather is likely one factor to flares but I believe there is a much more obvious and apparent reason.
I have patients that were managing their Fibromyalgia very well with a combination of techniques and therapies such as exercise, manual body work, chiropractic manipulation, acupuncture and nutritional supplementation. Now because of finances, they are unable to continue with many of these therapeutic modalities unless, as in the case of chiropractic, they are covered by their health insurance. The gains they had made bringing their body back into balance and finding relief has been slipping away. If you combine that with the fear of where they are headed with their accruing debt, you have a significant problem brewing. Stress plus a major change in lifestyle and therapeutic modalities equals a flare. Patients that were doing terrific and that I hadn’t seen in months or some cases even years have been calling for appointments. Most of them, when questioned, are expressing that they are under extreme stress. I have had patients say to me that they feel like they are in a “pressure cooker”. It is obvious that the mind body connection in these cases is the key. 
I want to emphasize now that just because I am saying there is a stress factor responsible for many of the recent flares I am seeing does not mean that Fibromyalgia is a psychological or emotional condition. Fibro is not “in the mind” but it certainly is “in the brain”. It is partly a condition of neurotransmitter imbalance that can be greatly exacerbated when stress comes into play. An expression I often use in the office “psychology becomes physiology” describes this phenomenon really well. When we are stressed, especially for extended periods of time, the body reacts and chemical changes occur. Most of us have heard of “fight or flight” where the adrenal glands release adrenaline in a sudden burst due to a severe stressor. The story that comes to mind is of that little woman who lifted the car off of her son when the jack slipped and he became trapped. That adrenaline release can give someone the extra boost needed to run faster, and temporarily become stronger or perform better. It is protective and the body’s way of dealing with a dangerous situation. The problem arises when the stress factors that alert the adrenals and other glands become chronic and don’t go away. It is then that the chemicals produced by the body get out of control and turn from productive to destructive. These chemicals do even more damage when there is no release for them and no way for them to burn off or balance out. 
When the overall situation we face can’t be immediately solved then we need to look at ways to offset or balance the stress with relaxation techniques. By doing so, the stress we face will become more manageable and subsequently the chemical fluctuations will be less dramatic. I have witnessed many patients turn their health around and improve the overall quality of their lives through simple meditative or relaxation techniques. For me, personally, it has been one of the most important factors to find balance and wellness. Please remember that flares will occur. We can’t have control over everything that happens in our lives. We can, however, control how we respond to them. Please don’t look at a flare as defeat. It is really a temporary condition and can be reversed much faster if we learn how to control our emotional response to it. 
Have you ever had the flu? I am sure many of you have. Do you remember that severe achiness throughout every muscle of your body? Do you remember having the type of pain where your skin feels sensitive to the slightest touch? Of course you remember not wanting to get out of bed because of the severe fatigue associated with feeling so sick. Well, Fibro pain often feels a lot like that. The difference however, is that with Fibro the pain doesn’t last only a few days or even a week. It is daily, chronic and unrelenting. For those of you who are fortunate enough to have never had a flu, maybe you have pulled a muscle at the gym. Have you ever strained a hamstring or maybe your low back and felt muscle spasm as a result? Even those of you who have been fortunate enough to have never strained a muscle may have experienced the muscle fatigue and achiness from just working out. 
You would then understand that really achy feeling you have in your muscles the day after you exercise hard. You wake up that morning and feel really sore and stiff. You can barely move your muscles and you may even have difficulty getting out of bed. You hurt so much you don’t even want to go to work but then again you know that the next day you will feel better. You may take a hot shower, stretch a bit and feel somewhat relieved. In a certain way, having that type of “post exertional” soreness can actually feel good because you know that you have worked your muscles sufficiently to be able to see and feel results. You also realize that within the next day or two you will be back to 100% and actually feeling stronger and healthier than ever. What a difference this type of pain is from Fibro.
The muscle pains and other symptoms I just described are only a very small portion of all the symptoms one can experience with Fibro. Unfortunately someone with Fibromyalgia, unlike the person who has the flu or the person who strains a muscle, cannot look forward to feeling “normal” within the next few days. That is where pain crosses a certain threshold and we begin to define it as “suffering”. When a person injures themselves and or experiences an acute pain, the mind is able to process the injury and realize that it will be a temporary condition. An example of this would be someone who stubs their toe. They may yell and scream and hop around for a few minutes but as soon as the initial pain fades a bit, their mind assesses the injury and they then realize that it will soon get better. That is acute pain and even if the toe were fractured, the mind can deal with that knowing that in a few weeks relief will come and all will again be back to normal. That is true “pain” and even though it can be severe, it is not really considered “suffering”. Suffering comes from having unrelenting pain and often not having a full understanding as to the reasons why. It is difficult for the mind to accept this type of pain. You didn’t strain your back, you don’t have the flu and you didn’t stub your toe. Also, it is not going away. It is there every day. To compound all this, many patients that have Fibromyalgia often get little understanding or support from those most important in their lives. Maybe this is because their condition is even more confusing for those around them that have little if any idea what kind of pain they are feeling. Also people with Fibro often look well enough so they often are not even beleived. This combination of having unremitting severe pain and also not being given any credence or understanding is what often leads a Fibro patient to go from pain to true suffering. Suffering can lead to secondary depression which will likely increase the already existing symptoms. This is such a viscous cycle and is the main reason why I feel education, advocacy and understanding is vital for not only those that have Fibromyalgia but for those who mean the most to them. The people that love those with Fibro must understand what they are going through. This point can not be stressed enough.
I have also examined, treated, advised and counseled hundreds of patients at FibroCareCenter and have observed the results by being able to follow most of those patients for many years. I hope this doesn’t seem like boasting when I make the claim that this gives me a very big advantage and also a rather unique perspective when it comes to assessing what the long term prognosis is with patients that suffer from Fibromyalgia.
My point with this is that when people are “health savvy” and proactive, as with most of my Fibro patients, they often begin to lead healthier lifestyles. In actuality they are often forced because that is the only way for them to find true relief. People with Fibromyalgia usually realize that they need to eat better, reduce stress, rest more and adapt a “system” where they prevent or at the very least minimize their flares. This way of living is obviously more conducive to the avoidance of even more serious illnesses in the future. I am sure you understand this principle I am speaking of. It should be very obvious that good nutrition, being proactive and educated about health, sleeping or resting better, exercising correctly, taking the appropriate nutritional supplements and also understanding what is normal or abnormal for your own body will always lead to decreasing the risk of severe illness. 
I would love to see some long term study that helps me back up my theory but I truly believe that this seems totally logical and should be apparent. While dealing with my many Fibromyalgia patients I spend a great deal of time explaining and educating them. I try to encourage them to see the bright side of this condition, as difficult as that may seem during times of severe pain. There often can’t be a 100% cure with Fibromyalgia but that does not mean that healing cannot take place. It certainly doesn’t mean that one is doomed to a lifetime of pain and frustration. When we fully understand what is necessary to manage this condition and help live a more comfortable and complete life we often become healthier overall. With this healthier lifestyle comes more balance and a fuller, richer life. To use a much overplayed cliche’ “whatever doesn’t kill you will make you stronger”. Well, with Fibromyalgia I have found this to be incredibly true with the vast majority of my patients. Once a complete understanding takes place and stronger attitudes develop, a much better sense of control arises. If people are willing to then let go of the negative side of Fibro and not dwell on certain issues that may still be frustrating, a much happier fulfilled life is possible. 
